Table Settings

Table settings tend to be somewhat special at yuletide; many families lovingly take out their precious heirloom sets when the time comes for setting a Christmas table.

This works especially well if you are having guests; but then there might arise the problem that you do not have enough flatware and cutlery to go around! But festive Christmas table settings do not depend solely on the plates – or even on what they bear!

Table Settings for formal dinners will of course differ from casual ones, when people just help themselves from a variety of dishes on a buffet sideboard. Then, making a table setting for Christmas and kid-proofing it while you’re at it, takes some thought.

A child may not want to feel ‘different’ by being given his meal in acrylic plates and not the ‘real thing’ Here, you could find that augmenting your existing dinner sets with timely finds in travels abroad, flea markets and fairs, would be a boon. … the vintage feel is not lost, and everyone is content. So what if the plates are a mis-match? The ‘unity’ is in the conviviality of the people sitting down to dinner.

Table Settings that are formal deserve the very best – forget about the linen-look paper napkins and, if you feel you can do it, buy a length of linen, soak it, dye it in cold coffee, and make the serviettes yourself. Edging them with lace gives your Christmas table settings the unique pizzazz of an antique look, which cannot be had for mere money.

No Christmas table setting would be complete without a taking-point centerpiece. Remember, it must ever be so high as to preclude conversation between people sitting directly opposite one another at the table. One of the fanciest, loveliest, selections that can be imagined for a long-table meal is a series of tiny crystal bowls; some of these are filled with nuts, some with pot-pourri, some with after-dinner mints, and some with lit floating candles. Original, and relatively inexpensive, this idea can be adapted to suit all dinners, from the most casual to the most elaborate.

Your table settings can be an integral part of the way the rest of the house is decorated. However, you can also opt to go for a totally different look. If you intend to break with tradition, for instance, and offer your guests an oriental meal instead of the traditional turkey, you can follow the theme in the table settings; crisp starched dazzling while linen-ware and tablecloths, stark black, white, and red plates… and if your budget stretches to it, customized sake glasses that the guests can then take home with them as souvenirs.